Snack-type foods are very popular. Items generally known as snack foods include, for example, potato chips, corn chips, cookies, crackers and popped corn. Such products can be made from whole grain corn, wheat, rice, potatoes, or can be made from other starchy byproduct materials such as a paste, roux, mash or other dough. The term "snack foods" generally refers to cooked foods which are adaptable to be eaten from the hand. Typically snack foods are small in size, relatively dry, can be preserved for a period of time and easily transportable. Many commonly available snack foods are made from starch or flours. Examples of such include cookies and crackers. Other snack foods may be made by directly processing agriculture products. Examples include potato chips and popped corn.
Snack foods that are made from starch or flours typically involve mixing flour and starch with water to form a dough and then further processing the dough. However, there is a growing tendency for the public to prefer foods that are more "natural." A snack food that is made directly from an agriculture product without first processing the agricultural product to starch or flour form generally contains more vitamins and fibers. A snack food that is produced from an agriculture product would be preferred by the health conscious public if the snack food also possesses acceptable characteristics of taste and mouthfeel.
Corn is a widely available, non-expensive raw material for making snack foods. However, snack foods that are made from whole kernels of corn have not been met with wide acceptance. The reason is that kernels of corn that are made into snack foods are sometimes hard to chew or lack characteristic flavor or mouthfeel that is perceived to be superior to other snack foods. Nevertheless, snack foods made with whole kernels of corn are available in the market. Examples are CORNNUTS.TM. (Cornnuts, Inc., Oakland, Calif.) and UGLY NUTS.sup.m (Sweetcorn Products, Bloomfield, Nebr.).
Corn is a major food staple that has been genetically refined to the development of hybrid varieties. To date, the majority of corn grown is yellow dent corn. Dent corn is characterized by a starch composition that is about 75% amylopectin and about 25% amylose. Amylopectin is a branch-chained polysaccharide, whereas amylose is a straight-chain polysaccharide. Hybrid corns are available wherein the starch composition is essentially all amylopectin. These amylopectin hybrids are referred to as waxy corns. The varying amounts of amylopectin and amylose in the starch composition of dent and waxy corns result in substantially different starch characteristics. Thus, dent and waxy corns are not considered to be interchangeable materials for most applications.
To date, waxy corns have not been utilized for human food products except to the extent that various wet milling techniques, well known to those skilled on the art, can be used to isolate amylopectin as starch from corn. The starch alone can be used as a raw ingredient for food or can be further processed to derive maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup or other starch byproducts. Generally, wet milling techniques include grinding, floatation of the grinding product to remove the germ of the kernels, straining to remove fiber and centrifugation to separate protein from starch.
Numerous examples may be cited wherein amylopectin starch is isolated from waxy corn and then incorporated into food products. The isolated amylopectin starch is recognized to form heavy-bodied pastes that are sensitive to shear. The pastes possess high clarity and reduce gelation tendency. However, the use of waxy corns have not been directed to the production of whole kernel food or snack food materials. Field corn is often considered suitable only for animal feed, is low in cost and is under utilized as a source of human nutrition.
Patents that disclose varying aspects of foods using corn byproducts include Markakis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,258, which describes a synthetic chip-type food product obtained from a dough derived from cereal grains including corn. Maria et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,070, disclosed ready-to-eat food products that comprised a farinaceous base and a starch. Marotta et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,294, teaches a ready-to-eat food product having a pregelatinized starch major component. Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,377, teaches a low oil content baked corn snack made from a waxy corn masa. Mochizuki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,113, teaches a snack product having an expanded coating made from a cereal grain starch flour. U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,211 is related to a potato chip type product that can be made with potato and other flours derived from cereals including starch, tapioca, corn, wheat, etc. Dame, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,474, teaches snack food product and process comprising a popped popcorn in a dome matrix containing a cereal flour which is fried. U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,501 teaches a novel snack food product comprising comminuted or reduced particle sized popcorn cooked in a dome matrix comprising a combination of a cereal flour and a starch. ABE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,567, teaches a process for preparing a snack food from a starch or a starch flour. ABE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,958, teaches a snack food made from rice, flour or rice bran and other starch products. Colminel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,303, teaches a dough preform made from cereal flours which when fried produces a desirable snack chip having a predetermined surface bubbling characteristic. Pirrotta et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,084, teaches a potato based chip product containing intact vegetable pieces.
Considering the wide availability of corn in the United States and in the world, there is a need for a snack food made from kernels of corn that have not been processed into starch or flour. Such a product would provide the consumers with a choice of a wholesome snack food product. Such a product would also add value to a commodity agricultural product that is of abundant supply.
A substantial need exists in the art for a process that can be used to convert waxy field corn into a desirable human food. For the purpose of this invention, the term heat expanded kernel means a kernel which, when heated, increases in volume to a degree of about 5 fold or less. The expanded kernel obtains a cracked surface shell which promotes the chewability of the material and at the same time obtains an expanded starchy interior which is cooked, softened and improved in flavor. Commonly available popped popcorn is a product which increases in volume substantially greater than 20 fold increase in volume.